This mess
by flyin'rabbit
Summary: The Yule Ball has caused some trouble for Angelina. Now, she must talk to the person affected most.


**A/N**: Just a little story about the (possible) aftermath of the Yule Ball for Fred and George. Hopefully you'll enjou reading it, and don't forget to review ;)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the world of Harry Potter, sadly. The line 'Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess' is from Taylor Swift's _Love Story_. Not mine either.

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"_What__ are we going to do now?" she whispered. She knew it was completely out of character for her to be so nervous, but what Fred just told her, worried her. What would happen to their friendship now? _

"_I don't know," he sighed. Upon seeing her concerned face, he tried to crack a smile. "But it'll be fine, I'm sure of it. Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess."_

_She nodded swiftly and looked around. Nobody was paying them any attention – a good sign. Perhaps she was overreacting. She would just have to talk to him. And so would Fred._

Startled by Alicia's alarm clock, Angelina sat up swiftly, looking around. She had been dreaming again. Ever since the Yule Ball and the talk to Fred the day after, the same dream had been repeating itself every night. And she still hadn't talked to George.

It had been almost a week now. She was sure that Fred _had_ talked to George, because the two of them were inseparable as always. Now all she had to do was gather the courage to talk to George as well. She was a Gryffindor – how hard could it be? Very hard, apparently.

How was Fred supposed to know that by asking her to the Yule Ball, he was actually sort of betraying his brother? Alright, maybe he could've known it through that freaky twin telepathy they had. But how was she supposed to know that by attending the Ball with Fred, she was breaking George's heart? Had he been dropping hints about liking her as more than a friend? Not as far as Angelina could remember.

She and Alicia had been best friends with the twins for as long as she could remember. It had never occurred to her that more-than-friendly feelings could arise among them. Besides, the friendship with the twins had mostly been just good fun – whenever they were together, there was no room for being serious.

Yet this was quite a serious matter, Angelina thought. She was pretty sure that Fred had not been joking when he informed her about what George had told him, accused him of, almost. She had never thought that it would be possible for those two to fight, much less about a girl. And not just any girl – her. It made her feel terribly guilty.

Sure, the twins weren't really fighting, since she and Fred had only gone to the Yule Ball as friends. Nothing more, nothing less. But until she would talk to George, things wouldn't be the same. Alicia was beginning to notice things as well. The four of them hadn't sat together ever since the Ball and it was because she, Angelina, was too much of a coward to talk to George. She wasn't usually such a coward, but the fact that she had no idea what she was supposed to say, that made it nerve-wracking for her.

Walking down to breakfast all by herself (everyone else had gone ahead, claiming she was taking too long), she was suddenly grabbed by an arm and pulled into a cramped space, also known as a broom cupboard. Not exactly Angelina's idea of a fancy place. She was about to protest, when a voice said, "Sshh! Quiet!"

She would recognise that voice anywhere, and the knots in her stomach returned. "George?" she whispered. "What's going on? What are you doing? Why are we here?"

She heard him mutter something and suddenly, there was some light in the small cupboard. His face was dead-serious for once as he stared at her rather sadly. "I think you know perfectly well why we're here, Angelina."

She had never heard him speak like this, so it made her pretty uncomfortable. "I – I guess I could think of a reason."

He nodded, looked around, and said, "As for why we're here – I thought that that might be a nice change from where we usually sit."

"I wouldn't call it a _nice_ change," Angelina muttered, but George ignored her.

"So, as we already established, you know why you're here. Would you care to… explain?"

Normally, Angelina would've snapped at him, saying that he had no right to ask her this and that she didn't need to explain herself to him if she didn't feel like it. Now, however, she felt that she owed him some sort of explanation.

"I don't know, really," she said, shrugging. She didn't know a lot of things at the moment, one of them being where she should start. "There's nothing going on, George. It's just that I didn't have a date for the Yule Ball and Fred asked me and we're friends so I thought, _why not?_"

George wasn't looking at her; he was gazing at the floor right next to her. Once she stopped speaking, he did look up again. "Is that really how things are?" he asked. "Is that really all there is to tell?"

Angelina looked at him, bewildered. "What are you talking about, George? Of course that's all there is to tell; nothing else happened. If someone else had asked me before Fred did, I would've probably gone with them."

He stared at her for a little longer. "So you're saying that you would've gone to the Yule Ball with anyone who would've asked you?"

"Well, not anyone – " she started her reply, but apparently, George wasn't done speaking yet.

"Even with me?" he asked, laughing a bit. Angelina didn't need to listen to know that it wasn't a happy laugh. It was a hollow one; a fake one. A laugh that didn't suit George Weasley at all.

"Of course, George. Why wouldn't I?"

"Why would you?" he retorted. "You went with my twin brother – "

"Which should be proof enough to realise that I would also have gone with you, had you asked me earlier," Angelina interrupted him. She didn't want him to wallow in self-pity. She wanted him to stop acting like such an idiot and become his normal funny self again. And above all, she wanted him to stop liking her in a more-than-friendly way.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. "Did you already talk to Fred?" he asked at last, and Angelina nodded.

"Yeah, he's the one who told me about your – disagreements. Did you talk to him? I mean, really talk to him?"

"I suppose so," George murmured. "I was fairly upset with him at first, but he told me that he didn't know and that he wouldn't have asked you if he'd known. And now you are only confirming his story so I suppose I'll have to forgive him, right?" He looked a little happier again, which felt as a huge relief to Angelina. "But I don't think that you – you know – feel that way about me?"

She looked down, not daring to look at him now. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "You're right, I don't. I'm sorry, George. If it's any consolation – I wouldn't have attended the Yule Ball with Fred if I'd known – this, before. Hopefully this won't affect our friendship"

He smiled, albeit a little sadly. "I suppose it won't. Sorry for kidnapping you like this, but I had a feeling that you'd been avoiding me all week."

"You might be right about that," she replied, scratching her ear sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Well," George said, his voice back to its normal volume, "let's stop with the apologies, and let's get out of here!"

Grinning slightly, Angelina followed George out of the broom cupboard. Fortunately, there was nobody around to witness that. Fred had been right all along; they would make it out of this mess. As a matter of fact, Angelina was fairly sure that at this moment, they were already leaving the mess far behind them.

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**A/N**: So, what do you think? Plausible, impossible, anything else? Did you like it? If you have any comments, please review!


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